Gaslight: Sins of the Father
by kolchaksghost
Summary: In 1890, the Aegis Club protects the world from the eldritch horrors that haunt the stygian darkness and stalk the lonely places. Joshua Lee Burke and his companions are called into action once more but this time his little girl is at risk as well.


_Disclaimer: H.P. Lovecraft created the Cthulhu Mythos and many great authors have contributed to it over the years. _

**Gaslight: Sins of the Father**

**Chapter One**

**September 16, 1890; Dover**

Joshua Lee Burke rode his horse with careless ease along the top of one of the infamous Dover Cliffs. His trained sailor's eye had been monitoring the squall that was rolling in from the sea. It had taken him the better part of an hour to ride from the village to his current vantage point, and there could have been no way to make it back to the warmth of his room at the Inn before the storm landed. He resigned himself to a cold, wet, future, and turned his horse back the way he came.

"You will not want to be riding back in that," a feminine voice called out.

Joshua turned to his left and found the voice's source: a young woman with long black hair, preternaturally green eyes, porcelain skin and a figure that could ignite a man's passion. She looked to be about nineteen and was dressed in the local fashion. His heart raced as she moved closer.

"Good afternoon, Miss," he said in his best Southern drawl.

"You're an American," she stated amazedly, " We don't get many of those 'round these parts. What brings you Dover way? Are you a sailor?"

Joshua smiled and nodded his head, "I had signed on with a ship that was bound from New York to Singapore. The tub was damaged during a storm and barely made the Welsh Coast. The entire crew was stranded so I decided that I would take my pay and wander around for a while. I explored Wales for a spell then moved on to England, ending up here in Dover. Eventually I'll push on to London and sign on with another ship bound for somewhere."

The girl looked at him for a moment then up at the sky and began, "You should weather the storm in the warmth of our cottage."

Joshua tried to protest but the girl would not have it.

"My sisters would insist upon it," she continued, "We often shelter travelers during bad weather."

The girl pointed to a small cottage a little more than a hundred yards inland. The structure looked like it had withstood heavy gales for hundreds of years and though it needed some repairs, would survive many more. Two more young women could be seen from the doorway waving invitingly. Even at a distance, Joshua saw that they were slightly older but just as striking as his companion. They all shared the same attributes.

"My name is Eve, by the way," she finished, "Those are my sisters Mara and Thelma, Mara is the one on the left. You can tie your horse up round back of the cottage. I'll go help my sisters get a fire going and put a kettle on, Mister…?"

"Thewes, Nathanial Thewes; late Bo' sun's Mate of the steamship Perseus," Joshua lied convincingly.

As Eve headed back to the cottage and her sisters, her hips moved almost seductively. Joshua watched her entranced, until she and her sisters vanished inside. Then he guided his mount across the distance maneuvering to the back of the cottage before dismounting. He tied the reigns to the hitching post and saw to the animals needs. The storm unleashed hell before he finished. By the time he made around the front, and inside, Joshua was soaked to the bone.

The sisters turned when he entered and laughed. He stood just inside the door and looked like a drowned rat. His duster had been used to wrap up his bedroll and a couple of other personal effects. Joshua examined his surroundings quickly. The cottage was a simple two room structure. The larger living area was separated from the smaller bedroom by some kind of leather hide draped over the connecting doorway. The living area was dominated by a fireplace along the far was and contained an ancient table and a few chairs. Pots and utensils hung from the walls.

Thelma handed him a steaming cup of tea and pointed to the bedroom. "You'd best go in there and get those wet clothes off before you catch your death," she ordered, "We'll dry them by the fire."

Joshua did as he had been ordered and sloshed off to the bedroom with his cup of tea. During the short journey, he failed to notice the leather pouch that fell out of the bottom of his duster. The bedroom was smaller than he had suspected, and contained a small dresser, a worm eaten night table with a candle burning from a small holder, and an oversized bed. He stripped out of his clothes, one piece at a time, and threw them into the next room. The sisters giggled as they hung the garments by the fire that blazed in the hearth. He laid his duster at the foot of the bed and removed the bedroll, which he wrapped around his body as he drank his tea in a single gulp. Then he moved toward the candle so that he could warm and dry his hands over the meager flame. He jumped when he heard a voice behind him.

"Why Mr. Thewes, whatever are these," Eve asked coyly.

Joshua turned around and saw that all three sisters were in the room, and that Eve held his leather pouch in her left hand and one of the rubber condoms from it in her right. All three women stared at him with eyes that burned with lust. Before he could answer, they stripped naked and smiled seductively. Logic and reason left him and all that remained was lust. A lust that he had never experienced in his life, which he allowed to take control of his body and dominate him. He threw Eve onto the bed and lain down next to her, kissing her soft lips while his hands explored her. Mara and Thelma laughed and joined them.

*****

A scream echoed through the halls of Huntington House in the High Gate region of London that awoke all who lived there. Lady Alice Haversham raced past confused servants and threw open the door to the room across from her own. Another scream came from the bed before she could reach it. A small girl leapt from the bed into Alice's arms and she hugged the child tightly and tried to soothe her.

"Everything is fine, Brianna, mummy is here," she cooed, "It was just a bad dream."

Brianna pulled herself back a bit so that her mother could see her tear streaked face. "No, mummy, the fire killed them, it burned their house down," she wailed then buried her face once more in her mother's shoulder.

Alice knew the details all too well by now. Brianna had awakened from the same nightmare every night for the four days. It took forty-five minutes to calm the child and get her back to sleep. She slipped out of the room and closed the door softly behind her. Sakur, her Hindu manservant, stood in the hallway like a brooding sentinel with his back to her. A throat cleared in front of him, and Alice knew that Thomas had come out of her bedroom, much to Sakur's displeasure. She rolled her eyes and moved around the Hindu.

"Go back to bed, darling," she said wearily, "I fear that I shall be up for quite a while longer."

Thomas gave her a weak smile, shrugged, and went back the way he came. Alice continued down the corridor and down the stairs, with Sakur right on her heels. They moved through the foyer and entered the downstairs study. The Hindu lit just a few oil lamps then retreated to resume his post in front of Brianna's room. Alice was warmed by the affection the man showed her and her child, even though the nature of the situation went against his most fundamental beliefs. True loyalty was rare in this world; Sakur had been loyal to her Grandfather, and that loyalty passed to her when he died.

This was the moment that Alice had dreaded for two days. She had tried to contact Brianna's father through proper channels and had not heard anything. The only option left open to her was the one that scared her the most. She took a few minutes to calm her nerves then went to the bookcase to her right. Her left hand opened a box on the middle shelf and removed a silver chain with two keys hung from it. Her right hand moved up the side of the bookcase and gently pressed the concealed button at the top. The bookcase swung open to reveal a heavy oak door. Alice eased the smaller of the two keys into the lock, opened the door and stepped onto the stairway beyond. She closed the door and strode reluctantly down the darkened stars.

A soft light glowed from the subterranean room at the bottom of the stairs. Alice found that the table in the center of the room had already been prepared for her intended purpose. She walked purposely to the table and made every effort to avoid looking at the strange iron door to the adjoining room. Sakur, or his daughter Jasmina, had covered the table with a rich burgundy cloth. In the center of the table sat the wedding bands that she and her husband had worn. The two gold bands had been joined, like links in a chain. She looked at the rings and a sudden need to complete her task burned in her soul. Her eyes danced with the expectation of it.

Alice completed her task quickly, but it had taken all of her willpower not to do more. The need to do more pulled at her as she fled back up the secret stairs and retreated to the safety of her bedroom. Her body shook, but not from cold, when she entwined herself with Thomas in her bed.

**September 19, 1890**

For three days storms wrought havoc on the English Coast, but they had passed just before sunrise, in Dover, the villagers enjoyed an unusually calm summer's day. The fishing boats that had set out just before dawn were already back in port unloading their over-laden holds. By ten in the morning, all the work was done. The men enjoyed a lazy camaraderie in the local pubs; the children played happily and even the women gathered in small groups to gossip and laugh, ignoring what few chores remained.

In the small cottage near the top of one of the legendary cliffs this region was known for, things were not so calm. The storms had beaten the tempo for the wanton sexual abandon that occupied Joshua Lee Burke and the three lovely maidens that had offered him shelter from the rain. There had been occasional breaks in the debauchery, for the women at least. Sometimes one or two of the sisters would leave to stretch and stoke the fire in the living room. The last break came twenty minutes ago, when all three sisters decided to stretch a bit. Joshua tried to shake the haze of lust from his mind. The women kissed his chest, while their hands roamed his body. He regretfully extricated himself from their lustful attentions and rolled out of bed to gather his clothes from the other room. The last rubber condom had been used and Joshua felt that was a good indicator to resume his journey.

He felt weak from lack of food, drink and sleep. Joshua fought the urge to fall back into the arms of women that had given him so much pleasure. The battle was lost when Eve positioned herself on her hands and knees and begged him to violate her in the most unnatural way. Mara and Thelma lustfully joined in the entreaty. With an animalistic grunt, he grabbed Eve's hips and brutally slammed his rigid manhood where it was never meant to go. She screamed with pleasure, and her sisters looked at Joshua with eyes glazed with lustful hunger. They never noticed his hands move up to Eve's shoulders, or when he snapped her neck when he climaxed. He pushed the body away from him onto the bed and more of his seed shot onto her back. It took the remaining women several minutes to realize that their sister was dead. They simply thought that she had given in to exhaustion, which allowed Joshua to retrieve the hand axe hidden within his duster.

Mara never saw the stroke that severed her head and Thelma had little time to register the blood spatter that had hit her before the back stroke had taken hers. Joshua decided to complete the set and added Eve's head to his trophies. He removed a burlap sack from the pocket of his duster, which had been brought for this purpose, and placed the heads inside then tied it closed. He moved into the other room and dressed quickly, it had been fortunate that no blood managed to cover him. Joshua grabbed two burning logs from the fireplace and went back into the bed room. The logs were tossed onto the bed with the bodies; he gathered his duster, the sack, and exited the cottage as the entire bed ignited and the flames spread. He ran to the back of the cottage and discovered that only gory chunks were all that remained of his horse.

Joshua knew that he needed escape quickly. He had no wish to be caught by the locals with a sack of severed heads. With eyes screwed shut he tried to concentrate on the room he had rented at the Inn, but found it difficult. His mind kept wandering. Flesh and muscle rippled and writhed; a sharp pain took him. He felt like red-hot daggers were flaying his body from the inside out. The pain caused him to double over and vertigo washed over him as he fell forward. Carpeted hardwood flooring met his body instead of grass and hard earth and he was too weak to open his eyes to see where he ended up.

The painful feelings of emptiness and loss brought Joshua back to his senses. Slowly he picked himself off the floor and gazed dazedly around at his private rooms at the Aegis Club in London. He stumbled to the desk and scrawled a quick note then pulled the pulled the sash to summon one of the servants. Moments later Carstairs, the Club's butler, knocked on the door and entered when bidden. Joshua handed him the note, and the butler closed the door behind him as he left. Discarded traveling clothes marked the trail as Joshua made for his bathroom.

"My God, Joshua," a voice called out humorously from the door to his room, "you look like Death and smell like a dockside whore house at low tide."

The voice belonged to Major Reginald Kincaid, formally of Her Britannic Majesty's Marines, retired and Joshua's closest friend and ally. The 46 year old stood 6 feet tall and weighed 270 pounds of pure muscle. His black hair was still kept trim, in the military style. The mirth filled brown eyes and easy smile often gave him a much younger appearance. As the bastard son of His Grace, the Duke of Buckland and his Irish chambermaid, Reginald had no prospects for his future, until his father bought him a Commission in the Royal Marines. He proved himself time after time and rose swiftly through the ranks. The Duke had been so impressed by his unwavering sense of duty and honor, that His Grace legitimized him before his death. The current Duke of Buckland retired from the public eye and left Reginald to manage the family holdings from the shadows.

Joshua turned smiled at his friend. "I feel like I've been rode hard and put away wet," he replied dryly pointing to the burlap sack on the floor.

"There were three Succubi, not one Succubus. I had to play the role of hapless traveler longer than anticipated. Make yourself comfortable, Carstairs will be bringing up lunch in a bit. I just need to clean myself up."

Reginald declined, picked up the sack and left so the Committee could be apprised of the outcome of the Dover assignment while they awaited Joshua's formal report.

Joshua resumed his trek to clean and refresh himself. A half hour in a steaming hot bath helped him feel more Human, fresh clothes had been laid out on his bed and enough food to feed two people was spread out on the table when he returned from his room. He tightened the sash of his Dressing Gown, bypassed the fresh clothes and fell onto meal like a ravenous beast. The lunch vanished all too soon and Joshua went back to the clothes that had been set out to dress. He admired himself in the mirror when he finished.

Joshua Lee Burke, retired Commodore of the Royal Navy, stood 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 200 pounds, not all of which was muscle. His reddish brown hair, along with his beard and mustache, was well kept, with grey that just touched his temples and facial hair. Striking, blue eyes and lopsided smile completed his features. Put together with the fashionable suit that Carstairs had picked out, any 36 year old man would look dashing.

He slipped out of his rooms, and the Club, quietly and hailed Cab down the block. The feelings of pain and loss had intensified to the point that they were nearly unbearable and drove him to find solace. He gave the driver directions and settled into the back of the Cab. Joshua lost himself in the corridors of his mind until the Cab stopped sometime later. He paid the driver and flew up the stairs, the front door opened before he had taken his first step. A new emotion, anger, had seized him on the ride. He blazed through the door, ignored the man there entirely and burst through the study doors.

The doors slammed shut behind him of their own volition and he glowered at the room's sole occupant. Lady Alice Haversham sat coiled in an overstuffed leather chair facing him poised like a cobra about to strike, one eyebrow arched menacingly with a look that would have cowered lesser men. Every muscle in his body tensed, and his eyes never left her, as he made his way across the room.

"You put the Come Hither on me," he growled lowly and the anger drained from his eyes.

Alice had been unprepared for the anger of Joshua's arrival. Her own ire flared at his perceived insolence and disrespect. Her venomous reply died in on lips when she glimpsed through the anger in his eyes and found pain and emptiness reflected there. A feeling of guilt stabbed briefly at her heart and she realized that she had hurt him…again.

"I had no idea," she stammered and looked away.

Awkwardness descended upon the room. Joshua gave a long sigh and eased himself into the chair across from the woman that used to be his wife. When she looked back at him she saw the dark circles under his eye and the exhaustion that threatened to overtake him.

"I know," Joshua said simply.

"The Come Hither is meant to instill an overpowering sense of longing in the target, driving them to seek out the source. What I had longed for the most was taken from me; therefore, the spell only instills me with a sense of pain and emptiness. One day, that may not be the case, a proper penance for my sins. For now, I comfort myself with the knowledge that you and Brianna are happy," he continued plainly, without any recrimination.

"Now, Madame, to what do I owe the pleasure of this summons," he allowed his drawl to bleed through as he finished.

Alice pushed her response to his revelation from her mind and told him of nightmares that had plagued their daughter. Dread wrapped itself around her like a shroud and the warmth of the room was ripped away as she watched the reaction of her ex-husband. At first he showed concern but that rapidly changed to fear.

In all the time that she had known him, Joshua Lee Burke had never shown fear. There had been a long standing belief that he didn't know the meaning of the word. This man who had hunted down demons, vampires and assorted other terrors without flinching had been wracked with fear, Alice shuddered. Her world had taken on a darker form.

Little Brianna skipped into the study and the dark feeling that had fallen over the room was broken. She climbed into her father's lap and snuggled into his shoulder. For ten minutes he sat in silence and held his child close to him until sleep had overtaken her.

Joshua gently brushed the hair from the back of her neck and placed his right hand against it. Alice stared in astonishment as the flesh and muscles of that hand rippled and writhed. His face contorted with pain and a faint wisp of Magic had flowed from father to child, then he removed his hand.

"Those nightmares will no longer trouble her," he breathed softly.

"YOU KNOW MAGIC," Alice exclaimed under her breath.

"Yes and apparently so do you," Joshua shot back.

"My abilities are a matter birth while yours are an accident, for which I'm sorry," he continued cryptically and handed Brianna to her mother.

"We will need to be at the Committee meeting soon. Brianna will stay with me tonight, I will send for someone I trust to watch over her and you too," he finished.


End file.
